Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-07-21

breeze. and with this she ran dows
upon the solitary Briton.
This ship was called the General
Wellesley. and armed With twenty-five
guns.
She opened heavy FIRE upon the
Yankee. and the battle was maintain
cd for quarter of an hour. the men.
of.war all the while lying in full view,
but unable to approach for want of q
breeze.
Finally. hopeless Of assistance, her
captain struck his colors.
A prize crew was pat O. board, and,
as there was now wind enough to give
her stesrage-way. she was headed in .
dirsctiun to taxa her m much out Of
danger as possible.
But the breeze at this moment
reached the men-of.war, and they
were discovered to be moving In chase.
Faster and faster they gathered head
way, as the light wind freshened; and
it began to appear as if the prize could
not possibly be saved.
The privateer kept close to her, in
order to relieve the prize crew in case
of necessity; but just as it was decid.
ed that the men must be taken of, a
thick fog was observed to be rolling
over the ocean at distance, and grad.
ually obscuring the feet.
The prize sailed like a mere log.
but could she be kept out of the way
Of her pursuers until the fog should
cover her, she would stand a good
chance Of making her escape.
There was. however. very little time
to be lost; for now the bow.ports of
three or four frigates were beginning
to be seen with more distinctness,
while little further off were q sew.
enty four and a twenty gun sloop-of-
war. At still greater distance were
others of the kings ships that took no
part in the chase.
But the mist came on rapidly. as if
some spirit of the deep were in league
with the audacious privateer's men.
and soon they could see nothing of
the pursuing shipa below their top
and the top :sffas ssffss-.t too ea:,1 we're hidden.
appeared as if floating upon the fog.
, In few minutes, the very upper.
most speck of canvas vanished, and
the mist rolled on, enveloping the
Yankee and her prize.
l have heard it remarked by one
who was an actor in the scene, that it |
was the thickest fog he ever saw. |
There was certainly a most singular |
coincidence in the fact of its having |
come up just at that moment.
The helms Of the two frigates were |
now shifted, and. as the English knew |
not where to look for them, they were
soon at a safe distance from the squad |
ron.
The General Wellesley made sail for |
the United States, but, unhappily. |
while trying TO enter the port Of
Charleston, South Carolina, with a
British cruiser close at her heels, she
struck upon the bar off the harbor.
and was lost, together with q number
Of her men.
One Of the Yankees prizes, a ship
which Captain De Wolf renamed the
General Jackson, was q somewhat re-
markable vessel. She was built by
the Portuguese, at Goa, in the East
Indies. being made wholly of teak
wood, and never csulked. Captured
from the Portuguese by the English,
and from the English BY the Ameri-
cans, she continued for q long time to
sail to Bristol, but was. at last. after
having been purchased at another
port. accidentally burned at sea. when
nearly q hundred years old.
AS to the Yankee herself, she was,
after the war, put in the West India
trade. and not long aftsrward per-
formed the feat of coming from one Of
the Westward Islands TO Bristol, in
seven days. under jury masts; she
having been dismasted in q hurricane
on the outward passage.